CBS newswoman Nancy Cordes

Nancy Cordes is a leading figure in the new generation of female television correspondents.

She covers the United States Congress for CBS News, which she joined in 2007, and as a journalist trying to keep politicians on the straight and narrow, she may be even more powerful than that other woman on Capitol Hill named Nancy. ;-) 

Ms. Cordes actually started out at ABC, where she reported on the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina, among other stories.  She got there through working at the Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA-TV from 1999 to 2003.  While at WJLA-TV, she covered the September 11 attack on the Pentagon.

Fun fact: Nancy Cordes grew up in Hawaii. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she worked KHNL-TV in Honolulu from 1995 to 1997.

Model Pattie Boyd

Pattie Boyd was one of the top models in Britain during the "Swinging London" era of the mid-1960s. Fashion and beauty trends coming out of London then were as relevant as the rock and roll music that British bands - especially the Beatles - were recording at the time.

So it seems more than appropriate the the first rock star-fashion model marriage ever would involve Pattie Boyd and George Harrison.

Pattie and George would eventually split, and she would eventually marry his best friend Eric Clapton - though they too have since split, of course. She would remain friends with both of them afterwards.  But she had been the muse for many well-known Beatles songs written by George Harrison - "Something" and "For You Blue," for example - as well as many songs composed by Clapton, such as "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight."  (The latter song was inspired by the frustration Clapton experienced while waiting patiently for Pattie to get ready to go out with him and having to re-assure her that she looked fine prior to their departure.)     

Since Pattie's marriages to Harrison and Clapton, rock star-fashion model pairings have become commonplace.  In the eighties, the trend got a little ridiculous when everyone in Duran Duran seemed to marry a model.  As for these pairings, some have gone . . . and, as Patti Hansen's marriage to Keith Richards shows, some remain.  But Pattie Boyd's two marriages are still the gold standard of such pairings, if only because of the songs they inspired. :-) 

And she never lost her appeal.  This is a picture of Pattie Boyd in 2008 that I - yes, I - snapped at a Beatles convention, when she was 64.  Beatles fans likely were, and likely still are, still sending her valentines, which she probably keeps on her mantle as she knits sweaters by the fireside.  (I know Paul McCartney wrote that song, but what the heck!)

Fun fact: Pattie's sister Jenny is also a famous model.  She inspired Donovan's song "Jennifer Juniper," and she was once married to Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood.  

Model Khadija Adams

I've seen many a beautiful Yves Saint Laurent model, and of course I've seen numerous pictures of the eternally beautiful Catherine Deneuve, Monsieur Saint Laurent's longtime muse (a favorite subject on this blog, in case you haven't noticed), but except for Mlle. Deneuve herself, I don't think I've ever seen a woman associated with the late French designer or his fashion house as extraordinarily lovely as this woman!

That ravenous dark hair . . . that smile . . . those long, sensuous arms . . . that swan-like neckline . . . I think I'm in love!

It figures that Khadija Adams, the object of my infatuation, was a beauty queen before she became a runway queen.

Khadija Adams originally hails from Kenya, which she represented in the 1984 Miss World pageant.  Amazingly, she didn't win the title, but she did win the Continental Queen of Africa prize.

Ms. Adams was able to parlay her pageant success into a modeling career, and after working in New York and Milan, she caught the attention of Yves Saint Laurent, who fell in love with her just like I did. :-D

He was so inspired by her captivating beauty, he designed a single haute couture collection around her.  To say that she became his muse would be an understatement.  Like the picture at the top of this post, the picture immediately above and the picture immediately below both show Ms. Adams modeling  Yves Saint Laurent clothes.

And when she wasn't modeling Saint Laurent's outfits, she was modeling his cosmetics line, having secured a lucrative makeup contract with his fashion house.

Khadija Adams is retired from modeling now and lives a private life.  But those of us who are as taken by her beauty as Yves Saint Laurent was still love her. :-)